“My formula for living is quite simple. I get up in the morning and I go to bed at night. In between, I occupy myself as best I can.”

~Cary Grant

…full week! Literally!

Let me start at the beginning. Last Monday was my birthday. But the celebration started on the Saturday before with Michelle treating me to…

PF Chang’s. We had to travel all the way to North Dallas, but for those of you that have ever been blessed with visiting this establishment of culinary delights, it is my all time favorite! The owner asked me what I normally have there and when I answered Orange Peel Chicken, he told our waiter under no circumstances was I allowed to order that and instead brought me the Chang’s Spicy Chicken.

Yum! It is now my favorite out of the many that I have there. We started with lettuce wraps and ended with banana spring rolls. Double yum! The only thing I missed was the calamari. I am not a big favorite of calamari normally, but their’s is to die for. I love it!

What is it that makes me feel so good to accomplish eating my meal with sticks? This is America. Land of the spoons and forks. But, now that I am an expert with the chopsticks, I feel as if I am so cool. So grownup. But, humor me, folks, it is my life. And if eating with little black pointy things makes me feel good…back off. Life is too short not to find what fun and enjoyment we can.

Next, my bosses and the administrative secretaries took me out to eat at Pappadeaux’s, a seafood restaurant where I had the Mixed Seafood Grill – a skewer of assorted charbroiled seafood and veggies. Which means it had a lot of grilled scallops that were absolutely delish! They also have a wonderful gumbo. But I have been told mine is better.

Not many people know this, but my boss has the same birthday as I do. Exactly. Born on the same day, in fact. I have to explain to everyone, though, that I am six hours older than she is. I believe it makes her feel better. Fine with me, she is a great person. And I love the relationship she has with her husband. We took her to Mi Cocina and had Mexican food to celebrate her birthday. Muy bueno, mi amigas!

I went with some friends from work to a ‘wine dinner’ at a place called Johnny Carino’s, an Italian restaurant. It is held every fourth Tuesday of the month and the head chef fixes a special meal that is not on the menu accompanied by a different wine for each of the four courses.

Four course – four wines. You do the math. And you do the imagination after everyone has had at least four glasses of wine. Most of them, much more.

I am such a schmuck about wines – stuck on my White Zinfindel – so I didn’t enjoy the wine (just tried a sip of each), but the food and company was a real treat.

To recuperate from a week of overeating, I relaxed this evening by lighting my candles, pouring a glass of White Zinfindel and settling into my favorite chair. I missed most of the new TV premiers this week – one of which was Dancing with the Stars and the Unit – but tonight got to enjoy Ghost Whisperer ( I still love the relationship between the heroine and her husband) and the new one called Moonlight.

Wow!

It. Was. Great!

But I have been told:

1) I am a romanticist at heart (hello, my name is Sandy. I believe in soul mates and true love…is there a twelve step program for this?)
2) I am easily entertained

so you really can’t go by me.

Thanks to everyone who made my birthday such a special one. Suprises included!

“I’m not interested in age. People who tell me their age are silly. You’re as old as you feel.”

~Henri Frederick Amiel

I have the cutest neighbors across the street. They have been so kind and so willing to help in any way they can. For grins, let’s just call them Mazzie and George. Mazzie is all of four feet tall, has a thick accent of some sort, and is just adorable. It is fun to watch her giggle at everything George, her husband of a million years, says and does.

I had just walked in from work when the door bell rang. It was Mazzie wiping her hands on her apron with such a worried look on her face. She proceeded to tell me how she and George noticed around 10:30 that my garage door was up!

I never leave my garage door up. I always watch it go down before driving out of the driveway. I know I did this morning. I. know. I. did.

After much debate, they decided the best thing to do was come over and close it for me. I can just picture them holding hands as they sauntered across the street, nothing but the mission on their mind.

The garage is a fairly deep one. And the button to close the automatic garage door opener is located at the opposite end of the garage. So it is a loooong way from the button to the garage door.

George was first up.

He pushed the button and ran to duck under the door but couldn’t quite make it. He tried again. And again. Finally, he had to rest, Mazzie explained, and she was quite worried the way he was breathing so hard.

She thought a moment and decided that since she was so much smaller, she had to be faster so she convinced him to let her try. She tried three times, but never could make it to the door before being cut off each time. It wasn’t long before she was resting next to George.

While they were leaning against house catching their breaths, George spied a long 2 x 4 piece of wood lying in the garage so he got an idea. Armed with the wood, he punched the button with the end of it and being closer to the door that way, he didn’t have quite so far to run to slide under before the door closed.

Mazzie got more and more animated as she told me the story. She was so proud. She actually clapped her hands and the smile on her face was priceless.

I felt horrible. Can you imagine me coming home with two sweet little old people collapsed on my driveway?

There was no way I was going to rain on her parade though. I thanked her perfusely and made a big deal of what wonderful good samaritans and neighbors they were.

But I did give her my numbers to call should it ever happen again. Now I just need to think of some nice gift to bring them to show my appreciation.

“There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.”

~Saint Thomas Aquinas

…come in different shapes and sizes. And genders.

Thanks to my friends who are always there for me. And who have been there for me this whole year.

Who have never judged me.

Who have answered the phone each time I call and remind me everything is going to be okay.

Who make me laugh and not let me take myself so seriously.

I love ya! And you know who you are.

Went to the dentist again today. He convinced me I wouldn’t need the nitrous oxide this time.

Uh huh, sure.

But I fell for it.

About half way through the procedure, he and his dental assistant started laughing uproariously and when I inquired as to what was so funny, they asked me if anyone had told me how expressive my face was.

No, never. Well, except that time playing Texas Hold ‘em and I got a straight flush and yelled, “Holy sh*t, I’m all in.” And the time… well never mind, I digress.

Anyway, the dentist said it was worth a little pain to see the expression on my face.

I’m going to show him a little pain next time. And I hope it is a barrell of laughs for him.

“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”

~Albert Schweitzer

…not to think about something, what do you think about? Exactly! The very thing you are NOT supposed to think about.

Talked to a friend at work today about her craving for her favorite ice cream. She was bemoaning the fact that she needed to lose 20 pounds but her husband had recently purchased a gallon of Blue Bell’s Hot Fudge Sundae ice cream – her favorite – and how she could think of nothing else but it sitting in her freezer.

Calling her name.

Her husband just told her not to think about it.

Riiiiigghht!

So now all I can think of is the pint of Blue Bell chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream sitting in my freezer.

**Tom forgot his wedding anniversary and his wife was really ticked off at him.

She told him, “Tomorrow morning, I expect to find a gift in the driveway that goes from 0 to 200 in under 6 seconds, AND IT BETTER BE THERE.”

The next morning, Tom got up really early.

When his wife woke up a couple of hours later, she looked out the window, and sure enough, there was a small gift-wrapped box sitting in the middle of the driveway. Confused, the wife put on her robe, ran out to the driveway, and took the box into the house.

…yes, I have been drug into the MySpace craze kicking and screaming by my friends. Last weekend, after being appalled at me not having one, they put one up for me.

Me being me – knowing that people may actually see the thing – worked until 1:00 am last night to get it just right. I haven’t still figured out the purpose of a MySpace page, but have figured out that it gets totally addicting.

Saturday, Brenda and I braved the mall. I think she is still in shock as she normally only treks out there on a week day. This weekend it was overrun by preteen girls. In the stores, in the food court, hogging the counters at the Great American Chocolate Chip Cookie Factory. While standing in the looooong line in the restroom, Brenda mentioned quite loudly how she thought that Justin Timberlake had just walked in the mall entrance nearest the bathroom.

Tried to recreate what I wrote this morning, but that was earlier and a million things have happened since.

An old friend called me up last night and we talked for nearly two hours catching up. She is my rock and has been for over 20 years. Everyone needs a friend like that.

Another good friend emailed me wanting to know if I wanted to attend a concert locally the end of September. Haven’t been to a concert in forever. So if she can get the tickets I may go with her and two other girls from the same group. We always have fun together.

Another friend has Loreena McKennitt tickets in October and if her boyfriend bows out then I get to go. But, if I were him, I reallllly wouldn’t do that. If he does – can you say Dead Meat?

I am truly blessed to have the friends that I do. The best kind of friend is one that you can tell anything to and they listen, do not judge, and still love you. And have the best time when together.

Got a Jury Duty Summons this week! I would really like to blame it on Brenda since I recently mentioned that I have never received one before and she threatened to turn my name in, but I know it doesn’t work that way.

“A woman knows the face of the man she loves as a sailor knows the open sea.”

~Honore de Balzac

…or ‘in’ I should say.

Several of my girlfriends came over last night and we spent the night as only girlfriends can. Talking, drinking, eating, and laughing ourselves silly.

They can be bad…so bad!

But we behaved. Sort of.

Didn’t let Dennie book the stripper and no matter how many times MY computer visited the Le Bare website, it wasn’t me doing it. I swear!

But Brenda-who-refused-to-be-the-designated-driver-and-take-us-to-Dallas, your punishment for leaving early is to spend this next week scouring the internet trying to find your ‘MySpace’ website we created for you after you left.

Not really, but we thought long and hard about it. We gave you reprieve. This time.

After the last friend left and I straightened up the house, it was 2:00 am. I laid in bed thinking about how blessed I was to have love, friends, and the opportunities I have. Undoubtedly, it has been tough lately, but I love Mik’s favorite saying:

“In the end it will be okay. If it is not okay, then it is not the end.”

Did my walking this morning and have an appointment late this evening at my favorite place I buy my makeup to have a ‘makeover’. Might be fun. I could learn a new trick or two. And it is free! But the bad thing is that I have to take off all my makeup before I get there. Gasp! Hope I don’t run into anyone I know.

I love how your heart beats whenever I hold you
I love how you think of me without being told to
I love the way your touch is always heavenly
But, darling, most of all I love how you love me

sung by Sandy Posey

…waaayyy too soon.

Woke up this morning at 3:30 am with my mouth throbbing horribly. It took me a hazy minute or two to figure out what in the world could be wrong until it flashed back to me. Stumbled to the Advil and two tabs later felt pretty good. But took me an hour to get back to sleep.

Tonight I decided was a good day to start my walking again.

Grabbed my walking shoes, my iPod and took off. Since it was too windy to leave bread crumbs, I thought of bringing a map (I am so directionally challenged), but decided to live dangerously.

It turned out to be the best thing I could have done. Since I have no one to walk with now, I turned up the music, which works wonders on soothing the savage soul. Mix that and the beautiful sunny weather with a slight breeze that was gentle enough to just caress… I could have walked for hours. Found my way home just fine before dark.

It has been a very emotional week both at work and on the personal front and the endorphins kicking in was just what I needed to uplift my spirits.

Since I am just rambling tonight, I will leave off with a joke. Everyone who knows me knows how much I love to laugh and I choked on my diet coke I was laughing so hard at this one.

Thanks to Kathy B. for sending this:

Wal-Mart Greeter

A very loud, unattractive, mean-acting woman walked into Wal-Mart with her two kids, yelling obscenities at them all the way through the entrance.

The Wal-Mart Greeter said pleasantly ‘Good morning, and welcome to Wal-Mart. Nice children you have there. Are they twins?’

The ugly woman stopped yelling long enough to say, ‘Hell no they ain’t. The oldest one’s 9 and the other one’s 7. Why the hell would you think they’re twins? Are you blind, or just stupid?’